Guide for Talking to Family About Celiac Testing

The following information is courtesy of the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness (NFCA)

Having a relative with celiac disease increases your risk of developing celiac, but many parents, siblings and family members are resistant to getting tested.

Earlier this year, NFCA collaborated with the Celiac Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) in Boston to address that challenge through guiding the work of Claudia Dolphin, a graduate student from Emerson College’s Master’s in Health Communication program. Claudia’s research project “Screening for Health: Attitudes and Beliefs of Non-Participants in Disease Testing” examined the thoughts and attitudes of family members who had not been tested for celiac disease despite having a relative with the disease.

The study revealed that many family members were unaware that undiagnosed celiac disease often presents without any outward symptoms, and 64 percent of those surveyed said they would get tested for celiac disease if a family member asked them to.

In response to those results, Claudia developed the tools for diagnosed individuals to talk with their family members about celiac disease testing. NFCA is excited to announce the launch of this content in the form of new webpages and a Printable Guide. In addition, there is a new webpage and Guide to help your family members talk to their doctors about getting tested for celiac.

The NFCA and BIDMC teams hope that these new resources will help you begin this important conversation with your relatives. It could be a life-saving chat!